World Christianity in Modern and Contemporary World (1500-2000) SPRING 2015 Ana Maria Bidegain INTRODUCTION REL 3583 World Christianity in Modern and Contemporary World is a survey history of world Christianity since the European expansion in the 15 th and 16 th century and the interrelation between religion, economic and politics in western societies. This course includes the early missionary expansion, but its emphasis is on the transition of Christianity from a western to a world religion in the 19 th and 20th century. The course analyzes contemporary history of Christianity in the Southern continents and its interplay with the globalization process from an eco-feminist perspective. JUSTIFICATION Christianity History has generally been defined by a Western perspective and as a Western History. One factor to understand the globalization process is world religions. Global teaching and learning need to be aware that Christianity has a broader and global history that we should know to understand the 21 st century transformations and the role of religions and its interplay with economic, social, cultural and political realm. The shift of the numerical bulk of Christians from Europe and North America to Asia, Africa, Latin America and other areas outside the Northern Hemisphere has had more than demographic significance because it is shaping a new Christianity that is impacting the Northern societies and transforming the basic cultural background of this societies. GOALS AND STUDENT OUTCOMES After completing the course students should be able to have a new comprehension of contemporary Christianity and be aware how much it has evolved and became more than just a Western Religion. Students also should be knowledgeable about the interplay between religion socio-economical, political as well as cultural reality. They will be able to analyze the role of Christianity in the birth and development of globalization process from an eco-feminist perspective. In order to reach these general learning objective, students will have weekly goals, outcomes and assessments that will measure their knowledge and unit s comprehension. (Please, look at the calendar, below) EXPECTATION OF THIS COURSE
This is a fully online course, meaning that all course work (100%) will be conducted online. Expectations for performance in fully online courses are the same as for traditional courses; in fact, fully online courses require a degree of self-motivation, self-discipline, and technology skills that can make them more demanding for some students. Fully online courses are not independent study courses. You will be expected to interact online with the professor and your fellow students; to do assignments; to meet deadlines; and in many classes, to work in virtual groups. In some fully online courses, you may be required to come to campus to take midterms and exams, but in most like this one, you will take your tests online. In the course content portion of blackboard power-point notes on some of the topics are posted. Also some required readings are posted in this portion of blackboard. Power points are not substitutes for readings. Both complement each other. Students need to be familiar with the material in both sources if they expect to do well in this course. This is an online course, meaning that most of the course work will be conducted on-line TIPS FOR SUCEFUL COMPLETATION OF THIS COURSE Follow up all on-line classes Read all the required reading for each class session. Participate in group discussions on-line bringing your own research experience. Log into the course information to check Course Mail every day. Take all quizzes and Exams Start your essays early Communicate with me through Blackboard with any questions or concerns you have Utilize FIU s academic resources and services; be proactive! Library- http://library.fiu.edu/ Center for Excellence in Writing- http://casgroup.fiu.edu/writingcenter/ Online writing resource- http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ ASSESSMENTS (QUIZZES, EXAMS AND DISCUSSION BOARD ASSIGNMENTS) QUIZZES A time-restricted, online quiz will be given on each week s religious concept. You can take each quiz three times, and the highest of the three attempts will be recorded. Even if you do well on the first attempt, it is advisable to use all three attempts. You will not receive the same quiz every time; the computer randomly chooses the questions from a quiz database. The midterm & final questions will be taken directly from this database. Thus, the more times you take the quiz, the more questions you will receive and the better prepared you will be for the exams. For the quizzes, you will have 10 minutes to complete 10 questions. Each quiz will be open for one week, from Thursdays to Fridays, and you can take it on any of those days at any time. In order to mitigate any issues with your computer and online assessments, it is very important
that you take the Online Learning Practice Quiz from each computer you will be using to take your graded exams. It is your responsibility to make sure your computer is compatible with Blackboard (http://www.webct.com/tuneup) and that it meets the minimum hardware requirements (http://online.fiu.edu/future_whats_required.html). Please take this practice quiz within the first 2 weeks of class. EXAMS Midterm and Final exam are both online, time-restricted examinations periods. DISCUSSION BOARD ASSIGNMENTS We will have three meetings through Internet 1- On-line self- introduction. Students will be asked to introduce themselves to the Class. 2- Two graded discussions board on the 4 th and 13 th Week. A) Student will do a field research attending all a different Christian religious services outside their own ethnical or cultural background. They will listen and analyze Gospel and biblical interpretation. The founding and comments will be present in the first discussion board. B) Two different Religious discourses on migration on different location around the world will be discussed in the second discussion board. Throughout the semester the instructor will post messages to the discussion board that require a response or activity from each student. Each post will be graded. Each discussion is worth 10 points. To receive all possible points, a posting must be on time, be easy to read, free of careless mistakes, and appropriately address the issue(s) or question(s) presented by the instructor. Also each student must address or respond to viewpoints of at least three others in the class. The Final Grade will be determined by a tally of points scored throughout the semester. These points will be converted into percentages [that is, Points scored by student/total number of points [200] x 100]. Please keep printed copies of all assignments and graded material. If you cannot produce your class material in a grade dispute, the grade recorded in the instructor's grade book will take precedent. Students are required and responsible for all assigned text readings and material from Blackboard. Students are expected to check the Announcement and Assignment sections of Blackboard for this class at least every other day. Students who take this course are expected to have the skills necessary to complete all assignments. Essay Assignments must not be sent as attachments to the professor. They must be posted in the Assignment drop box. I will not grade them if you send them to me as attachments. If you have computer technology questions during the semester, you should contact the FIU Computer Help Desk. Note: I reserve the right to alter this syllabus if and whenever necessary. COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Quizzes (5) average 50 % Midterm 20% Final exam 20% Discussions Board (2) 10% Total 100% GRADES RANGE LETTER LETTER LETTER RANGE RANGE GRADES GRADES GRADES RANGE A 94-100 B- 80-81 D+ 68-69 A- 90-93 C+ 78-79 D 63-67 B+ 88-89 C 73-77 D- 60-62 B 83-87 C- 70-72 F 0-59 COMMUNICATION WITH THE INSTRUCTOR E-MAIL All students are expected to use their FIU e-mail address/account for course correspondence. Like Blackboard, you are expected to check your FIU e-mail at least every other day for the duration of this course. All e-mails sent to the instructor should reflect a professional manner Please remember you can also see me on office hours (Thursday 2:30 4:30) at DM 304B or request an appointment by mail. ACADEMIC AND CLASSROOM MISCONDUCT Students are expected to conduct themselves appropriately at all times. Behavior defined by the instructor as disruptive will not be tolerated. For a Web class, the above statement includes flaming, which is writing or sending inappropriate messages to the web areas of this course. All interaction with your instructor and your fellow students is expected to be appropriate. If any activity becomes disruptive, the instructor reserves the right to take appropriate action. In addition, if a student turns in an assignment where the authorship is questionable (plagiarism), the instructor reserves the right to discuss this situation with the student, and if she/he is not satisfied that the assignment is the work of that student, a grade of "0" will be assigned. REQUIRED READINGS Book
- IRVIN DALE T. & SUNQUIST SCOTT W. History of the World Christian Movement. Vol 2 Modern Christianity from 1454 1800.Maryknoll, NY, Orbis Books, 2012 - MULLIN ROBERT BRUCE A Short World History of Christianity. London: Westminster John Knox Press. Louisville.2008 - PATTE DANIEL(Edited by). Dictionary of Christianity- CDC (2010) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. This is a useful tool to work with to understand concepts and Christianity specialized issues. Also, special topics well developed in the Dictionary will be used in the Graded Group Discussions. Book chapters and articles required will be uploaded in the course shell AUBERT ROGER Christian Centuries. Volume 5. The Church in a Secularized Society Toronto, Paulist Press 1978. COX HARVEY, Fire From Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-First Century Cambridge, Mass.: De Capo Press, 1995. Hastings Adrian, ed., Modern Catholicism: Vatican II and After London:SPCK, 1991. JENKINS PHILIP, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. CALENDAR DATES Topics Readings Weekly Objectives outcomes 1 ST WEEK Introduction, Course overview Dictionary History of Christianity and theoretical and (Cluster) pp 521-551 methodological orientations and Assessments (selfintroduction (instructor and students) 2 nd Week Christianity and the European Expansion in the 15 th and 16 th Century to America and the Caribbean (chap. 1) Discovering African roots in Christianity Relating slavery development with Christian World expansion 3 rd Week Christianity and the European Expansion in the 15 th and 16 th Century to Africa,. (chap 2) Discovering the role of women and popular religiosity in the spread of Christianity in the New World Understanding the religious, political and economic role of the Missions. Quiz # 1 4 th Week Crisis in Western Religious and political Discussion
Christianity. Reformation and the Catholic counterreformation 5 th Week Orthodox Churches Caught between Empires World Christianity at the end of 16 th century 6 th Week Christianity Reencounter Asia Christianity Chap. 4 Mullin R.B. A short Historyof Christianity (chap 10 and 11) Dictionary Mission (cluster) Chap 5 and 6 Chap 3, 7 and 8 consequences of the Reformation and Counterreformation Process. Role of Orthodox Churches in the Building up of Eastern Societies in Modern Period Understanding how Christianity and Western Culture are not the same. Board Quiz # 2 7 th Week Christianity s arrivals to North East America and developments in the Caribbean and South America 8 th Week MID TERM EXAM Christianity Chap. 10 and 11 Mullin R.B. chap. 12 and 13 Dictionary Church and State (Cluster) MID TERM EXAM -Understanding the clash of Christian European and Amerindian -Religious Diversity in North American Colonies MID TERM EXAM Quiz# 3 Feb. 27 7:00 9:00PM 9 th Week The Bourgeois Revolutions and its religious impacts. 1750-1830// The Americas Revolutions and the new Church State Relationships Christianity Chap. 12, 15, 18 y 19. Analyzing Women, Nature and Religions role in the New scientific and modern societies. - The roots of the secularization process in the Atlantic World Robert Bruce Mullin A short History of Christianity. Chap 14 and 15 10 th Week SPRING BREAK SPRING BREAK SPRING BREAK SPRING 11 th Week Liberalism and the Vatican Council I Building a global and centralized church// Colonialism and Christian missions in the 19th Century// Roger Aubert. Christian Centuries. Volume 5. The Church in a Secularized Society (pp 24-69 ) Robert Bruce Mullin A short History of Christianity. Chap 16, 17,18 and 19 Understanding the conflict of the Catholic church with the Modern Societies. Missionary movement and colonialism in the 19 th centuries. BREAK Quiz # 4
12 th Week Liberation theologies and economic, social and political confrontations in the world. 13 th Week Women in Christian Churches Hastings Adrian, ed.,modern Catholicism: From Vatican II and After Pp1-13 pp35 a 67 Dictionary - Liberation Theologies (Cluster) Gottemoeller Doris Religious life for Women. In From Trent to Vatican II Pp 227-240 Understanding Liberation theology, its social and political impacts as well as it global expansion. Analyzing women role in the diffusion and transformation of Christianity in the World. Discussion Board 14 th Week Pentecostal World expansion. Week 15 Ecumenical dialogue and the future of Christianity and the interreligious dialogue Dictionary on Family Christian Views of,(cluster) Harvey Cox, Fire From Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality (Cambridge, Mass.: De Capo Press,1995 Dictionary - Charismatic and Pentecostal Movement. (cluster) Meyer Birgit in Pentecostalism and Globalization ( 113-130) chap6 Robert Bruce Mullin A short History of Christianity. Chap 20 Philip Jenkins, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity pp1-17 McLeod Being a Christian at the end of the twentieth century in World Christianities Cambridge History Vol 9 Chap.33 Understanding women perspective on Christianity and the role of women in the future of Christianity. Comprehending the beginning of the Pentecostal movement and its spread in the Africa, Latin America and Asia. Understanding why Christianity will no longer be a majority Western religion and how Christianity shapes Globalization Quiz #5 Week 16 - FINAL EXAM